Nigel’s thriller weaves family stories with plot to kill Nazi

ESPIONAGE, romance, daring bombing raids and codebreaking are interwoven with family history in a new book by a former Warwickshire politician.

Sure Strike by Nigel Rock tells the story of a fictitious RAF unit given the task of eliminating a senior Nazi who could expose the biggest secret of the Second World War - the Bletchley Park complex where the Enigma code was cracked.

If they fail, the D-Day landings will be jeopardised and the course of the war changed. The novel has tense action sequences and romance, but the plot and many of the details were suggested by stories from Mr Rock’s father, an RAF orderly room sergeant.

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Mr Rock said: “It’s an idea I’ve had for years. My mum and dad met at Bomber Command in the RAF. Particularly when my mum died I used to ask him to tell me stories from the war.

“One of the things I asked was why there were Welsh dictionaries in our house. My father worked in the orderly rooms and they had a guy staying with them from a remote town in Wales who spoke no English.”

Inspiration came when Mr Rock’s daughter developed an interest in number systems and encryption. While on a visit to Bletchley Park, Mr Rock learned that Welsh had been used in British codes in the Bosnian conflict and the First World War.

The plot of a thriller emerged, drawing on Warwickshire landmarks such as Ashorne Hall and the brutal reprisals following the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich, notorious for his role in the Holocaust, by Czech forces based in Leamington.

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Mr Rock was a Liberal Democrat parliamentary candidate for Kenilworth and Southam in 2010 and former Stratford district councillor. When he stepped away from politics he had time to devote to writing the story, which he originally planned as a screenplay.

The hard work was just beginning. Research included calculating the speed at which a De Havilland Mosquito could overtake a streamlined Lancaster bomber, learning about the offically-recognised morale-boosting effects of beer on wartime Britons, and calling on Welsh friends for help with regionally accurate dialogue.

He says some of his invented details - such as removing the turret from a Lancaster to make it fly faster - have since turned out to be true, while others hint at technological innovations developed in later conflicts.

Not the first politician to turn his hand to fiction, Mr Rock’s task remains convincing the general public that what he says is possible - or at least suspending their disbelief.

Mr Rock said: “People who have read it have said to me some parts aren’t very credible - and those are the true bits.”

Sure Strike is available from bookshops and online retailers priced £7.99.